Cutting mechanism for button-hole sewing-machines



(No Model.) s Sheets-Sheet 1.

I. W. OSTROM. CUTTING- MECHANISM FOR BUTTON HOLE SEWING MACHINES.

No. 439,679. Patented Nov. 4, 1890 '(No Model.) '3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

P. W. OSTROM. CUTTING MECHANISM FOR-BUTTON HOLE SEWING MACHINES.

No. 439,679. Patented Nov. 4, 1890.

(No Model.) I 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

F. W. OSTROM. CUTTING MECHANISM FOR BUTTON HOLE SEWING MACHINES. No. 439,679. Patented Nov. 4, 1890.

' 4; W421 M a a. g (6 W77 the cutter-bar was to be left at rest.

U ITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREELAND W. OSTROM, OF BRIDGEPCRT, CONNECTICUT.

CUTTING MECHANISM FOR BUTTON-HOLE SEWING-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 439,679, dated November 4, 1890. Application filed September 27, 1887. Serial No. 250,803. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, FREELAND W. OsTRoM, of Bridgeport, county of Fairfield, and State of Connecticut, have invented an Improvement in Cutting Mechanism for Button-Hole Sewing-Machines, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention has for its object to provide a button-hole-stitching machine with mechanism whereby the cutter-bar will be automatically actuated at just the proper time with relation to the stitching and while the cloth-clamp holds the material in stitching position under the needle.

In this invention the cam for actuating the cutter-bar is so made that it can actuate the cutter-bar automatically but once during each rotation of the cam disk or plate which controls the longitudinal or feeding movement of the button-hole; but the operator can actuate the cutter-bar at intermediate points, if desired. The cam referred to is of novel and peculiar constructione'. 6., it has a camshaped periphery for a portion of its length another portion of the cam-surface being shaped to constitute a cast-off for and to cooperate with a power-transmitting connection interposed between said cam and the cutterbar-actuating rock-shaft to be described, so that the said cutter-bar cannot be automatically thrown down twice during any two successive rotations of the said cam. Heretofore it has been common to partially rotate the cutter-bar to place the attached cutter out of the line of the point of the needle-bar when To obviate partially rotating the cutter-bar, I have recessed or cut away the lower end of the needle-bar, so as to permit the cutter to be actuated independently of and irrespective of the vertical position of the needle-bar; or, in other words, the en d of the cutter is adapted to be moved vertically within the path bounded by the circumference of the needle-bar in its vertical reciprocations.

Figure 1 is a rear side elevation of a button-hole-stitching machine embodying my improvements; Fig. 2, a section of part of the machine below the irregular dotted line m, Fig. 1; Fig. 8,a partial section in the line 00',

Fig. 1, looking toward the right. Fig. 4 shows a portion of the devices located immediately at the right of the said line m, Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a detail showing the disconnecting-lever removed from Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a horizontal section through the lower parts of the needle and cutter bars, looking down; and Fig. 7 shows the cutter-bar-controlling cam separately.

The bed-plate A, the guides or ways a clothclamp T U to hold the material under the needle-bar in position to be stitched and cut, the cloth-clamp-actuating mechanism, including a heart-cam disk or plate, as E, a camslide M, and a feeding wheel or disk F, the lever H H, the main shaft S, the link W to rotate or turn the feeding-disk are all substantially as in United States Patent No. 303,557, to which reference may be had.

The cam B on the shaft S, the take-up R, actuated by it, the link B, the needle-baractuating rock-shaft B its crank B and link B to actuate the needle-bar B (shown by breaking out the cutter-carrying bar a in Fig. 1,) are all as common in the Wheeler & Wilson button-hole-stitching machine now commonly in use. I

The cutter-bar a, mounted in suitable guidebearings in the head of the machine-frame, is provided at its lower end with a cutter or blade 0. and at its upper end with a button or knob 79 Between its bearings the cutterbar has attached to it a collar of, provided with a stud a which is embraced by the slotted end of a rocker-arm b, clamped on the auxiliary rock-shaft b. The cutter-bar also has attached to it a guide-collar 19 which enters a guideway cut in a portion of the head of the machine, as at b. The lowerend of the needle-bar b is recessed or cut away at a (see Fig. 6) to leave the cutter a unobstructed as to its reciprocations, no matter what may be the vertical position of the needle-bar, the end of the cutter or blade being free to move vertically within a circle bounded by the circumference of the needle-bar.

The shaft S has attached to it at one side of the cam B a cutter-actuating cam f, (see Figs. 3 and 7,) having a cast-0E portion f, consisting, essentially, of-a beveled'face moving with the said cam.

Between the shaft S and the cutter-actuating rock-shaft l), I have interposed a powertransmitting connection, (herein shown as a lever e extended from a rock-shaft a, and an arm e which is represented as pivoted at a, so that the said arm is free to be vibrated or moved in the direction of the length of the said shaft S. The upper end of the powertransmitting connection is shown slotted to receive a stud c of an arm e, joined to the shaft 1). The arm 6'' has a too 2, which normally rests at one side of the cam f, as shown in Fig. 3, but out of the range of the camshaped periphery of the cam f, until just at the proper time in the stitching of the buttonhole, at which time the rock-shaft I), through mechanism to be described, located between it and the disk for actuating the cloth-clamp, acts to produce an initial movement of the said rock-shaft Z) sufiicientto move the toe 2 away from the shaft S far enough to enable the said toe to fall upon or come in the range of movement of the periphery of the cam f. This done, the cam f in its continued rotation strikes the said toe 2 and quickly moves the power-transmitting connection to give to the cntter-bar-actuating rock-shaft b a quick movement suflicient to depress the cutter-bar and cause its cutter to cut a slot in the cloth held in the clamp under the needle. The cam f, having acted to depress the cutter-bar, the east-off part f of the said cam acts upon the toe 2 and pushes the arm 6 laterally off from the cam f and out of the range of movement of the periphery of the said cam, so that it is impossible for the said cam to actuate the said cutter-bar twice in succession during any two successive revolutions of the shaft S. A spring, as f attached at one end to the arm and at its other end to the frame-work and placed in angular position, acts normally tokeep the said arm not only against the said shaft but also drawn against the side of the cam f, as in Fig. 3, the force of the spring being sufticient to aid in drawing the toe 2 of the arm a upon the cam f when the initial movement referred to is given to the powertransmitting connection by the cutter-actuating rock-shaft. The cam g, located at one side of the cam B, acts against the lower end of the arm 6 of the power-transmitting connection, and thereby serves to lift the cutterbar out of the material if through any cause the spring f should fail to efiect such movement.

The post or stud serving as the fulcrum for the vibrating lever H H has erected upon it, as herein shown, a stud m, which receives and supports an oscillating lever m, a portion of the said lever being made as a sleeve to turn on the said stud, the said lever being under the control of a spring, as m connected to it and to a washer m fixed to the stud m, the said spring having two purposesone to keep the lever in elevated position, the other to keep it in position to commence its initial vibration at the proper time. The upper end of the stud m is supported by a bracket, as

m", depending from the arm of the machine. (See Fig. 1.)

The oscillating lever at, near its lower end, has an arm m, which is acted upon by a trip ping-arm m, attached to and revolving in unison with the cloth clamp-actuating-disk, so that once in each rotation of the said disk the said arm at will meet the arm m and cause the oscillating lever m to be moved. The upper end of the lever m, denominated the intermediate lever, has an arm m provided with a pin or stud 3, which is normally held against the bracket m by the spring m, the said pin and bracket acting as a stop to determine the initial position of the lever when not in operation.

The shaft I) is provided with a cam, as n, and with a finger shown as composed of a collar or, having a pin 4.

The oscillating lever m, having arms m and m to act upon the pin 4, secured to the shaft 1), constitutes what I denominate the starting mechanism intermediate the clothactuating clamp and the power-transmitting connection.

In the process of stitching a button-hole the tripping-arm m or a pin thereon arrives in contact with the arm m about as the cutter-bar is to be actuated to cut a slit in the material held by the clamp under the usual needle in the needle-bar, and the said tripping-arm in the further movement of the said disk starts the oscillation of the lever on, causing its arm at to strike the pin 4 referred to and oscillate the shaft 1) far enough to move the power-transmitting connection referred to sufficiently to lift the toe 2 of the arm e high enough to enable the spring f drawing on the said arm, to place the toe 2 thereof in the range of the periphery of the cutter-actuating cam f, the arm it, connected to the slide-rod h, acting as a stop to keep the said toe in central position with relation to the periphery of the camf until the arm is pushed off at the side of the cam by the castofl'f. The toe 2 of the arm e having been lifted upon the cam f through the intervention of the lever m, as described, the eamf, acting upon the arm c continues the oscillation of the power-actuating connection and of the cutter-bar-actuating shaft 11 until the cutter-bar and cutter complete their descent and cut the material.

To insure that the cutter-bar descends but once during the stitching of each button-hole, the cam 11 referred to, while the cam f is operating to oscillate the said shafts, as stated, meets a projection on of the lever m and moves the said lever vertically upon the pin m and against the spring m such movement of the said lever causing the arm at to be pushed below and out from contact with the pin of the tripping-arm on, leaving the lever m again free to be turned back by the spring m and place the stop-pin 3 against the bracket m, this being done as soon as the cutter-bar commences to rise, as stated. This depression of the lever by the cam n takes place only during the descent of the cutterbar, and the cam is of such shape as to permit the lever in to rise only as the cutter-bar is ascending. Through the devices described 1 it is impossible to actuate the cutter-bar automatically but once in each rotation of the disk Er As premised, the cutter-bar in the machine herein shown and described is adapted to be actuated not only automatically by power, but also by hand, the latter provision being important and very desirable to provide for accidents inthe stitching, and also when doing very fine work when it is essential to see that the button hole has been correctly stitched before cutting it, which cannot be seen when the machine is running at high speed. To accomplish this result, the lever m has pivoted upon it at p a disconnectinglever 19', (see Fig. 4,) which when turned acts against the under side of the bracket m thus placing the arm m out of the range of movement of the pin in the tripping-arm m thus leaving the cutting mechanism free to be actuated by the operator through the knob p at the upper end of the cutter-bar. When the operator actuates the cutter-bar by hand, the arm e is turned, as is obvious, and the toe 2 is placed above the cam fin such position that when the cutter-bar rises the toe 2 will be lodgedon the periphery of the camf; but if left in this position and the machine started the cutter will be actuated out of its proper time. To obviate this, I make use of the sliderod h and arm h, before referred to, the said slide-rod being pushed in the direction of the arrow upon it in Fig. 1 against the spring h until the arm h pushes the arm e bodily off from the cam f. The rod h has at its outer end an adjustable collar h provided with a pin 71 which, entering a hole in the arm of the machine, acts as a guide for the rod h in its reciprocation, and prevents its rotation.

Should it be desired to actuate the cutter for any length of time by hand, the operator may loosen the collar 71 secured to the rod h by a set-screw, and push the collar farther on the rod, so as-to enable the rod to be held normally in such position that the arm h will prevent the passage of the arm 6 upon the cam f.

The take-up (marked R) is of usual construction.

The power-transmitting connection herein specifically represented is adapted to be mounted in the well-known form of Wheeler & Wilson sewing-machine, style No.10, without necessitating change of position of any of the regular parts employed in the stitchforming mechanism.

The gist of the construction of the powertransmitting connection is that it shall form an operative connection between the rotating shaftS and the cutter-actuating shaft, and shall have an arm or part, as 6 which shall be capable of moving into the range of mo- ,tion of and so as to be actuated by the peduring that one of its rotations in which it moves the power-transmitting connection to cut the button-hole, also acting by its cast-off portion to cast the said arm 6 0% from the said cam, so that the cam cannot again act upon the said arm at-the next rotation of the cam, thus causing a second descent of the cutter-bar.

The mechanism herein represented is so constructed that the cutter-bar will be automatically depressed to out the material held in the clamp but once between the time of clamping and unclamping the material in which the button-hole is to be stitched.

It will also be especially noticed in my invention that the power-transmitting connection has given to it the initial movement, hereinbefore described, but once between the clamping and unclamping of the material for each button-hole, and that the initial movement is derived from a projection or arm moved by the cloth-clamp-actuating disk, the said projection, through the starting mechanism, before described, giving to the said power-transmitting connection just sufficient initial movement to enable the toe of the arm e to come upon the periphery of the cam f.

In another application, Serial No. 363,279, filed by me I have shown the cloth-olamp, its actuating devices, the starting mechanism, and parallel needle-bar, and cutter-bar-actuating rockshat'ts, but I have omitted the castoff cam and the devices between it and the cutter-bar-act-uating rock-shaft, and instead of them I have introduced a latch between the cutter-bar-actuating shaft and needle-baractuating shaft, the said cutter-bar-actuating rock-shaft in the said application deriving its full and effective movement from the needlebar-actuating rock-shaft.

I claim- 1. In a button-hole sewing-machine, the combination, with the stitch-forming mechanism, the work-clamp, and operating mechanism for the latter, of a cutter-bar, a cutter, a cutter-bar-actuating shaft, a rotating shaft, as S, provided with a cam, as f, having a castofi portion, a power-transmitting connection between said rotating and cutter-bar-actuating shafts, one portion of said connection consisting of an arm, as 6 the relative positions of the said arm and cam being variable in the direction of the length of the said shaft S, and appliances for bringing said arm and cam in such operative relation as to enable the periphery of the said cam to actuate the power-transmitting connection when a button-hole is to be cut, substantially as described.

2. In a button-hole-stitching machine, the following instrumentalities, viz: stitch-forming mechanism, a cloth-clamp, a cloth-clampactuating disk, means to move it, a projecjection carried by or moved in unison with the said disk, a cam f, having a cast-oif portion and mounted upon a rotating shaft of the stitch-forming mechanism, as described, a cutter-bar, a cutter, a cutte'r-bar-actuating shaft to reciprocate said cutter-bar, a powertrausmitting connection interposed between the said rotating shaft and the said cutter-baractuating shaft and having an arm provided with a toe portion to co-operate with the said eam,the said arm being normally held out of the range of movement of the said cam f,and a starting mechanism interposed between the said power-transmitting connection and the projection referred to, carried by the said disk, whereby the said projection once during each complete movement of the said disk actuates the said mechanism to give to the powertransmitting connection an initial movement, thereby enabling the toe portion of the said arm to come upon and be actuated by the periphery of the said cam for a portion of one rotation thereof to effect the descent of the cutter-bar to cut the material held in the said clamp, the cast-01f portion of the cam thereafter operating quickly to move the arm of the said power-transmitting connection aside out of the range of the acting periphery of the said cam to thus avoid a second descent of the cutter-bar at the next rotation of the said shaft and cam, substantially as described.

The cutter-bar and cutter, the rock-shaft b, means to actuate said rock-shaft, its attached cam 01 and finger 4, the cloth-clamp, and the clotlrclamp-actuating disk having an arm or projection moved with it, combined with the oscillating spring-supported lever having at one end an arm to be acted upon by the projection or arm of the said disk and at its other end arms to be acted upon by the said cam and finger to give the initial movement to the said shaft, and with means to continue the said movement to actuate the cutter, substantially as described.

4. In a button-hole-stitching machine, a clamp to hold the material to be stitched, a cloth -clamp-actuating disk, mechanism to move it, a cutter-carrying bar, and a cutter to cut the material held in the said clamp, combined with a needle-bar recessed or cut away to enable the end of the cutterto move unobstructedly within the circumference of the needle-bar, substantially as described.

5. In a machine for stitching button-holes, the cloth-clamp and its actuating mechanism, the cutter-carrying bar, its attached cutter, and the independent needle-bar parallel to it and grooved or cut away from its periphery toward its center to receive the point of the cutter, whereby the cutter is permitted to descend and cut the material closely to the stitch made by the needle, substantially as described.

6. The cutter-bar and its attached cutter, the cutter-bar-actuating shaft 1), means to actuate it, an oscillating lever to start the said shaft, and a cloth-clamp-actuating disk provided with a tripping-arm to act upon said lever, combined with the cloth-clamp and slotted throat-plate, and with mechanism for operating said cloth-clamp-actuating disk, substantially as described.

7. In a button-hole-stitching machine, the combination, with a stitch-forming mechanism, a work-clamp, and actuating mechanism for the latter, of a cutter-bar having a knob 19 a cutter, a cutter-bar-actuating shaft, a rotating shaft S, having a cam, as f, provided with a cast-off portion, a power-transmitting connection interposed between said rotating and cutter-bar-actuating shafts, one portion of said connection consisting of an arm, as a the relative positions of said arm and cam being variable in the direction of the length of said shaft S, appliances for bringing said arm and cam in such operative relation as to enable the periphery of the said cam to actuate the said power-tra-nsmitting connection when a button-hole is to be cut automatically, and means for moving and holding said arm out of the range of said cam when the cutter-bar is to be operated by hand, substantially as described.

8. In a button-hole sewing-machine, the combination, with stitch-forming devices, of a needle-bar-operating shaft, a work-clamp, operating mechanism for the latter, a cutterbar, a cutter, a cutter-bar-actuating shaft parallel to the said needle-bar-operating shaft, a rotating shaft, as S, provided with a cam,as f, having a cast'off portion,a power-transmitting connection between said rotating and cutterbar-actuating shafts, one portion of said connection consisting of an arm, as e, the relative positions of said arm and cam beingvariable in the direction of the length of the said shaft S, and appliances for bringing said arm and cam into operative relation to each other when a button-hole is to be cut, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FREELAND \V. OSTROM.

Witnesses:

G. W. GREGORY, O. M. GONE. 

